Will the Gay media suffer the extinction of the straight press?

Will the Gay media suffer the extinction of the straight press?
By Carlos T Mock
June 29th 2009

Thursday’s Chicago Tribune featured a related article prominently: Gay haven shows how far we have to go. On the 25th The Washington Post editorialized Washington 'AIDS in the U.S.A. - How to give President Obama your advice on combating the epidemic here at home. And on the 23rd, The New York Times featured an article on: Officials Weigh Circumcision to Fight H.I.V. Risk.

Since the gay rags come only once a week. By the time we read these and other news, they may be obsolete—it’s like last week Newsweek. Not to mention the bloggers that are updating the news daily. The way that we as a community react to this will either make or break the livelihood of OUR Newspapers.

For those who choose to ONLY read the gay media—please ignore the rest of this article.

But for most of us, who read three or four newspapers everyday, it is becoming worrisome.

When was the last time you read an interesting article on either The Advocate or Out Magazine? My subscription ran out three years ago and they still keep sending me the magazines. Truth be told, they are almost irrelevant. They are only ghosts of what they once were, and have completely lost tract of their mission. They can’t even find GLBT people to be on their covers because you have to be young and beautiful before they pay any attention to you.

The local rags are much more helpful and informative. They still carry substance and meaning. But their add revenues and content are getting smaller as time goes by. It is up to the GLBT community to save them.

Remember, most of the smaller events will only be covered by the Gay media, and authors like me, will never have our books reviewed by the straight press, so I’m thankful for all of our Chicago’s GLBT periodicals. They will publish my articles and give me an outlet—since the straight media will mostly ignore me.

So when was the last time you took the time to read your local gay outlet? When was the last time you supported their advertisers—better yet, buy their products and let them know you did so because they support our community?

If you think they are not doing a good job, write them a letter!

The gay rags are ours—it is up to us to support them and prevent them from going into extinction like most of the straight newspapers.

Dr. Mock has published four books with Floricanto Press, Berklety, CA. His articles have appeared on publications like The Chicago Tribune and several gay and lesbian newspapers. He was inducted in The Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame in 2007. He can be reached at: www.carlostmock.com